


Another Lifetime

by MDST3559014



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Awkward Romance, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV) References, Chatting & Messaging, Crushes, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, One Shot, Pining, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22811701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MDST3559014/pseuds/MDST3559014
Summary: “Ehh, you know, in another lifetime, you and I would've made a hot ass couple.” Gina told Rosa.“Agreed.”
Relationships: Charles Boyle & Rosa Diaz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Rosa Diaz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)/Gina Linetti
Comments: 6
Kudos: 91





	Another Lifetime

Rosa Diaz considered herself a reasonable person.

  
Sure, there was the occasional stupid decision she made while in an inebriated state and then came to regret the next morning, and every once in a while, she had what one could probably describe as a nervous breakdown, but other than that, she was well put together.

  
She had to be, since being a role model was kinda part of the job. Although the role models were just the day to day New Yorkers that she served and protected.

She still prided herself in setting a good example for her coworkers at the 99th Precinct in Brooklyn.

  
Within more than a couple of years working at the 99th Precinct, she had not once called in sick. Not once had she arrived too late or missed out on an important meeting, and she’d always met your deadlines. Her coworkers liked her, and she genuinely liked her job. Sure, most days, some of her friends drove her crazy, but that’s what she loved about them, really.

  
All in all, everything was pretty great. At least it would’ve continued to be great, if it wasn’t for her inescapable, completely irrational, highly unforeseeable crush on her co-worker, Gina Linetti.

  
At first, she brushed it off as nothing. The only reason her gaze lingered on Gina Linetti just a little bit longer than what was considered normal was because she was fascinated by her sardonic personality, and because it certainly wasn’t because of what most people didn’t consider the textbook appearance of a civilian administrator.

  
Then again, neither were Scully or Hitchcock, and she certainly hadn’t ever stared at them for that long.

  
Once she had gotten to know her a little better, she became intrigued by how aloof and seemingly chaotic Gina seemed half the time. She’d tried to break through her façade with friendly banter, a seductive smirk or even the occasional wink, but she either hadn’t reacted at all or had managed to make her feel like just a coworker.

  
So, eventually, Rosa convinced herself the only reason she was thinking about Gina Linetti during her free time was because she irritated her, because she wanted to find a way to make her lose his cool for once. And partly, that hadn’t been wrong.

  
It was when she first saw him with her hair tied up and in a shirt that really complemented her figure instead of her usual bulky attire that she’d finally allowed herself to realize that, she had certainly been lying to herself and no, Rosa’s interest in her was most definitely not purely platonic. On the contrary.

  
Ever since her reluctant acceptance, everything had just gotten worse.

In an act of desperation, she tried to distract herself by joining an online dating application, only to realize she wasn’t interested in dating just anybody. Each time someone had struck up a conversation, she’d immediately compared them to Gina, then deemed them unacceptable for some ridiculous reason she hardly even believed herself.

  
She’d become so pent-up she could hardly manage to talk to Gina anymore, her constant fear of accidentally giving herself away caused her to avoid Gina as often as possible.

  
She had to have noticed, Rosa was sure of it. Gina may have been as aloof as she was distracted with her phone; but, she was still a highly perceptive person, always aware of her surroundings and the people around her.

But what was she supposed to do? Or say?

  
Long story short: she was a mess.

  
Since Rosa knew how dangerous it was to bottle up emotions, she confided in another one of her co-workers, Charles, who’d also become one of her closest friends over the last few months especially since Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago have got together.

  
At first, it felt good, relieving, even, to get things off her chest.

  
But a friend wouldn’t be a friend if they didn’t give her their honest opinion, as well as some advice. And in the case of Charles Boyle, said advice was… well, not the positive reinforcement she’d hoped for.

  
Instead of telling Rosa what she needed to hear -- that she should just forget about the whole thing, and that crushes on coworkers were as common as they were short-lived -- he told Rosa what she secretly wanted to hear: That she should just go for it.

  
It was this piece of advice which led to Rosa’s current predicament.  
Tonight, for the first time in quite a while, a few employees of the 99th Precinct were meeting up at Shaw’s for a little get-together and some drinks.

  
Normally, she’d look forward to a relaxing evening with her friends, but things weren’t exactly all that normal.

  
To make things worse, during a temporary lapse of sanity, she’d somehow promised Boyle she’d finally make a move on Gina tonight. Of course, Rosa tried to rectify that mistake almost immediately, but her persistent friend was not having any of it.

  
“Boyle, what am I even supposed to say? I can barely get a word out without freaking stuttering when she’s talking to me!”

  
Holding her phone close to her ear, she made her way through the busy streets of New York City. Peralta and Boyle were both busy until tonight, so, in an attempt to distract herself beforehand, she decided to do a little shopping.

  
He laughed. “Ok, Ro-Ro, I’m going to tell you what to do and you’re going to listen. Understood?”

  
“Boyle, I will not-“

  
“I said listen. Do you seriously want things to go on like this?”

  
She didn’t even have to think about the question to know the answer. Rosa sighed. “No, I don’t. But-“

  
“Then shut up and listen. What you need is a confidence booster. Now I’m going to let you in on a little secret.”

  
_**A while later…** _

Rosa had no idea why she decided to listen to Boyle. She truly believed he gave her horrible advice. The worst idea ever.  
She was officially going insane. But who could blame her, really? Being hopelessly infatuated with her co-worker, who seemed like she couldn’t care less about her -- and pretty much everyone and everything else, to be fair.

  
And, long story short, this was how she ended up trying on lingerie in the changing room of a small shop Boyle had specifically recommended to Rosa.

  
“And why exactly am I supposed to try on lingerie? Even if I actually attempt to ask her out, nothing is going to happen!”

  
“I’m not saying it will happen. But it’s always good to be prepared. Besides, you’re not putting it on for Gina, you’re putting it on for yourself. Do you have any idea how empowering it feels to wear something you feel sexy in?”

  
And for just a split-second, Rosa actually believed him. She couldn’t remember the last time she had gone out to buy herself some lingerie. Probably at some point during her last relationship, but that had been… well, too long ago to say the least.

  
Rosa tried on three different sets, each in a different color, but so far, she hadn’t really experienced the confidence booster her friend had told her about earlier.

  
There was a beautiful babydoll negligé left for Rosa to try on, and since it was in her favourite color, she saved it until last.

  
Slowly putting on the silky garment, she closed her eyes for a second before opening them again to look at her reflection in the mirror in the dressing room.

  
Rosa was shocked. If she’d had any idea of how good she could potentially look wearing something like this, she would’ve asked Boyle for advice much earlier. The garment was flattering her figure without showing off too much – it was perfect. Immediately, she felt the confidence grow. She could definitely picture herself feeling more bold while wearing this tonight.

  
Overjoyed, she quickly reached for her phone, snapping a picture of her own reflection.

  
She wasn't the type of person to send pictures, especially pictures of herself in lingerie for that matter, but Boyle had asked her opinion on his outfits plenty of times, and she wholeheartedly trusted him, so she figured there’d be no harm in sending it to him for affirmation.  
That had been her first mistake.

  
Even though Rosa was a dutiful and well-organized individual, at least in regards to her job, there was one tiny flaw, one weakness she had which no one really knew about.

Ironically Rosa was really, really bad when it came to keeping her phone organized, as opposed to her crush.

  
She didn’t delete apps even once she hadn’t used them for months, she always forgot to reply to her friends or other contacts. When she had managed to ever reply, it was usually days or weeks too late -- long story short: She was very care-free when it came to keeping in touch with people.

  
This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing -- it had never gotten Rosa into any real trouble, and since the friends and colleagues she dealt with on a regular basis knew about it, they didn’t hold it against her. She did see them often enough for it to not cause any real miscommunication.  
A consequence of her little flaw was that some of the people she chatted with weren’t actually saved as contacts -- since she could easily tell who it was she was texting by clicking on the last conversation with them. She figured it wasn’t all that necessary to save the numbers of people she didn’t text on a daily basis.

  
Only Jake had got close enough to notice this one day when he saw her scroll through her list of chats and had only seen phone numbers instead of actual names. Ever since then, it had become a bit of a running joke between the two of them, and even though she texted him way more often than any of their other colleagues, she decided to not add a name to anyone’s actual contact just because the both of them found it funny.  
Scrolling through the last numbers she had texted to send the picture, Rosa was suddenly startled and almost dropped her phone when a shrill voice from outside the changing room reached her ears.

  
“HEY! You in there! I’ve been waiting for almost thirty minutes! Hurry up, for god’s sake!”

  
Rosa didn’t believe in fate. In fact, she was convinced most things in life are traced back to coincidence. But every once in a while, something would cause Rosa to question her worldview. Sometimes, something unbelievably absurd would happen to Rosa, something which – if only for a fleeting moment – made her feel like she was living in a comedy series.  
After Rosa managed to grab her phone in mid air, she quickly shoved it back inside her pocket and began changing once more, not wanting to upset the person outside any further. She wasn't a big fan of confrontations -- at least not when they were avoidable -- and since she’d found what she wanted to buy, she quickly made her way out of the changing room before paying and leaving the store.

  
Rosa still had some time left before she’d to leave to meet up with her colleagues, so she hurriedly made her way back home to both select an appropriate outfit and simultaneously try to calm her racing heartbeat.  
On the way back, she noticed it took Boyle a lot longer to reply than usual, but she figured he was probably busy getting ready himself, so she thought nothing of it.

  
It was when she was putting on her favorite pair of dark jeans that her phone suddenly went off, signaling a new message had arrived.  
But when she opened it, she almost choked on the water she had been drinking right before.

  
[Unsaved number]

_Wow Diaz, I’m assuming you sent the picture by accident. From an objective and rational perspective, I have to say the photo is so out of focus and underexposed. Filter much?_

This got upsetting real quick, she thought.

  
Rosa quickly tapped on the chat icon to open the entire conversation, only to let out an undignified gasp when her worst suspicions were confirmed. She felt like she was going to have a heart attack - or vomit. Or both.  
While Rosa had been interrupted by the rude lady from outside and almost dropped her phone, she had somehow accidentally managed to tap on Gina’s number instead of Boyle’s while selecting the chat she wanted to send the picture to.

  
And since neither of their numbers were saved and she hadn’t checked her phone after leaving the changing room, she had had no idea. Well, not until now.

  
 _Ok. Calm down. The damage has been done. Time to somehow rectify your mistake_ , Rosa thought out loud.

  
After taking a minute to try and calm down while keeping her eyes closed, she slowly opened them again to read over Gina’s response again.

  
And, even though she had been right in guessing that she accidentally sent Gina the picture, she couldn’t help but feel slightly offended.

  
Sure, Rosa was her co-worker and it would be highly unprofessional to respond to her photo in any inappropriate way. _But it certainly wasn’t necessary for Gina to add that second sentence_ , Rosa thought.

  
Rosa was pretty sure she was still in a delusional state of mind, and the reality of what she’d done hadn’t quite sunk in yet. There was no other way she’d be able to explain why she was suddenly, eagerly typing a response.

[Rosa]  
 _Someone sends you a photo of them in their underwear and THIS is your response?!?!_

Rosa didn’t have to wait long for a reply this time.

[Unsaved number]  
 _Evidently._

Rosa gaped at her message, letting out a small sound of offense. Was Gina serious?! She’d never done anything to Gina other than be nice and trying -- and failing -- to somehow get her attention, so why was she being so unnecessarily rude? Gina had to know how uncomfortable this situation was for Rosa.

[Rosa]  
 _Well, you don’t critique a nude when someone sends it to you!_

Quickly, Rosa made sure to save her number, hopefully preventing herself from making a mistake of similar proportions in the future. Although she was pretty sure whatever hopes she’d had of approaching Gina were completely ruined after what she just did.

[Linetti]  
 _So you didn’t send it by accident?_  
 _Interesting..._

Rosa’s face was burning up. She was wondering what she was supposed to reply. From a logical perspective, this was her chance of preserving any dignity she had left and hopefully prevent Gina from thinking she was some sort of lunatic.

  
But logic is so boring, that little voice inside her head whispered.

  
 _Gina had critiqued the photo, sure, but she hadn’t exactly seemed shocked or disgusted by it. Right?_ Rosa thought _._

  
 _Screw it. It’s going to be awkward as hell facing her tonight anyway,_ Rosa reasoned, so she decided to push her luck.

  
Rosa had definitely been hanging out with Boyle too much lately. His boldness was somehow rubbing off on her. Or maybe it was the confidence boost. It had to be.

[Rosa]  
 _Possibly_.

Burying her head in her hands, Rosa set her phone down beside her. When it went off yet again, she somehow wanted to run away as fast as possible and read her message at the same time.

[Linetti]  
 _I won’t tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. If you want to, we’ll just forget it ever happened._

Rosa’s stomach began fluttering again, but not in an uncomfortable way.

  
All of a sudden, Boyle’s words echoed in her head: “Do you seriously want things to go on like this?”

  
Taking a deep breath, Rosa typed her reply.

  
[Rosa]  
 _And what if I don’t want you to forget?_

Rosa’s stomach clenched as she nervously waited for Gina to reply. When the little “…” popped up next to Gina’s icon on the screen, indicating she was typing, Rosa felt like she was going to spontaneously pass out at any moment now.

[Linetti]  
 _So you’re looking for compliments?_  
 _I wouldn’t have thought you’d be interested in hearing something like that from me._

Emboldened by her words, Rosa quickly replied:

[Rosa]  
 _And what if I am?_

This was it. If Rosa hadn’t made it obvious before, Gina was definitely aware of Rosa’s feelings now. Depending on Gina’s answer, Ros would either spend the evening on her motorcycle while wallowing in self-pity, or…

[Linetti]  
 _In that case, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to know how soft your skin is._

Rosa’s face was quickly burning up as she read Gina’s response, face in utter disbelief.

  
Suddenly feeling very unsure on how to respond, Rosa settled for some humor.

[Rosa]  
 _You really are a sweet, Linetti._  
 _Any one might’ve just demanded a full-on nude_

[Linetti]:  
 _Ahh I’m totally not interested in that._

And just like that, Rosa’s confidence was crushed and she wished the ground would open and swallow her up.

  
But when she saw Gina was typing in yet another response, Rosa couldn’t help that traitorous feeling of hope rising once more.

[Linetti]:  
 _Because I would like to undress you myself._

Rosa’s breath hitched. Somehow, she was still unable to fully comprehend that she was having this conversation with Gina, of all people. Gina, her coworker. Gina, who she’d been crushing on for months now.

[Rosa]:  
 _Would you want to come over once we’re done with Shaw’s later tonight?_

 _Boyle would be so proud right now,_ Rosa thought _._

In fact, he would probably celebrate the fact he had unknowingly and inadvertently played an indirect role in all this.

[Linetti]  
 _Hmmm I do want to._

Rosa figured it was better to not leave with Gina, as that would only alert the unwanted attention of some of their fellow colleagues. Rosa was also pretty sure Gina probably wouldn’t want to stay at the bar for very long even though Jake would definitely try to force her to do just that. Therefore, she quickly texted Gina her address so she could come over once everyone else had gone back home.

**_A little while later…_ **

After having a little happy moment to herself because of her conversation with Gina, Rosa took a little extra time on her makeup.

  
Gina hadn’t texted Rosa back after she sent her address, but Rosa was still feeling fine. There hadn’t been anything left to say, and Rosa still needed the time left to get ready, anyway.

  
Rosa checked her phone once more to see that Boyle had texted, asking if she’d found something nice to wear for tonight. Rosa couldn’t help but smirk, deciding to tell him in person eventually.

  
Just when she went to grab her keys and leave her apartment, there was a knock at the front door.

  
 _Odd_ , Rosa thought. It was definitely too late for the parcel service to be there and pretty much none of her friends even knew her home address.

  
Since she was already running a little fashionably late, Rosa quickly went over to open the door.

  
And just like that, Rosa was suddenly finding it very hard to breathe.

  
It was Gina Linetti.

  
Her hair was tied up and she was clearly dressed up.

  
“Another great Gina Linetti surprise,” Gina giggled, “you better savor these will you still can, Diaz.”

  
Above her smirking lips, Rosa could make out the faintest hint of a blush on Gina’s cheeks and she was holding _...a bottle of champagne?_ Rosa questioned.

  
Gina took note of Rosa’s confusion and reached up to scratch the back of her neck, clearing her throat as she did so.

  
“I thought that we could… uh… skip the drinks and spend the evening here. Just the two of us. What do you say about that, Diaz?” Gina asked, waving the bottle she had in her hands.

  
Rosa couldn’t help but smirk and blush at the same time. Normally, Gina was bored and uninterested. Doing something like this was probably very unusual for her. She looked slightly awkward, almost shy as she stood there, awaiting Rosa’s response.

  
It was both adorable and hot at the same time.

  
Rosa couldn’t help the butterflies in her stomach.

  
“I’d like that, Linetti,” Rosa replied as she moved aside to let her in.


End file.
